Bear
Meaning of Bear
Bear is an English word-name lifted straight from the formidable forest animal, a borrowing that traces back to Old English “bera” and still carries the quiet authority of a creature both feared and revered. Pronounced simply “bair,” the name straddles literal and symbolic ground: in popular culture it summons the survivalist resourcefulness of explorer Bear Grylls, yet it also softens into the universal comfort of a child’s teddy. Persian folktales add another brushstroke, depicting the khers as an unexpectedly loyal guardian to dervishes wandering the Zagros foothills—an image that lends the name a hint of Eastern mystique without straying into ornamentation. On American birth charts, Bear has ambled rather than sprinted: after decades of hibernation it resurfaced in 2011 and now lumbers around rank 636, its annual counts rising and falling with ursine nonchalance. As a given name it offers parents a crisp, two-beat alternative to Theodore or Arthur—earthy, self-contained, and, like its namesake, perfectly content to stand alone in a clearing.
Pronunciation
English
- Pronunced as bair (/bər/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Bear
| Bear Bryant was a legendary University of Alabama football coach who won six national championships and set the record for most wins in college football history. |
| Bear Grylls is a British adventurer and survival expert famous for his wilderness TV shows and tenure as Chief Scout. |
